Postlude

Last night Rick and Dee, as they have done in past years, graciously opened their home to choir members for the annual Christmas party. The gathering is a much-anticipated, and very much enjoyed, conclusion to the busiest four months of the choir year. There is a lot of music ahead before the summer break in the choir schedule; but, for the most part, the rest of the year will settle into a routine that is less hectic than that of the past few months.

I have written more than 3,000 words in this blog. But it may be that I could have conveyed all the relevant information about our choir in many fewer words, perhaps even in one paragraph. Something like this:

Our choir is a group of people who join together in glorifying God through music, while enjoying each other’s fellowship and friendship. We sing together, laugh together, celebrate together, and pray together. I have been blessed to be a part of it.

Lessons and Carols Service

Before I give my report on the Lessons and Carols service this evening, two quick stories:

Story 1: In the mid-60s, my home town church built a new sanctuary. Among a few controversial design elements, none was more so than the placing of the choir loft in a balcony at the rear of the sanctuary. In fact, I'm not sure that this doesn't remain a point of contention in that congregation more than four decades later. But the reason for the design always seemed to me to be a sound one. It is a symbolic way of acknowledging that choir music is not a performance for the congregation, but an act of worship directed to God.

Story 2: There was a scene in a TV series some years ago in which a string quartet made up of amateur musicians performed a recital before a small audience. After the performance, one of the musicians lamented that she had not played to the standard she had set for herself. The group’s leader consoled her, saying "I believe the audience was oblivious to the nuances of our performance." My wife and I found the remark amusing, and it has become a catchphrase for us.

Okay, now I'll try to tie those stories to this evening's service.

My view (a common one, based on comments I heard from other choir members) is that, overall, our singing was good. But there were exceptions here and there, and notably one carol that did not go as planned. So, how to grade the performance?

Answer: The question is misguided. Lessons and Carols was not a "performance" to be graded (see Story 1 above). It was a service of praise and worship. Isn't it presumptuous to think that God discounts musical praise when He hears a flat note, an error of timing or dynamics, or any other failing?

Still, while it was a worship service, not a concert, it’s still true that the congregation was of course listening to the music. That's where Story 2 comes in. Did some people notice a flaw or two? Probably. But it's likely that relatively few did, and even fewer cared; because God was in the sanctuary as His people were reminded, in word and in song, of the Greatest Gift

Snippets

snippet –noun: a small piece snipped off; a small bit, scrap, or fragment

There are some words that people just like the sound of. For the choir, one such word is "snippets"; I heard it voiced many times at rehearsal last night.

Every year at this time, Rick chooses brief excerpts from a few of the Lessons and Carols selections, and the choir sings these snippets at the beginning of the worship service a week before L&C Sunday. It's sort of an advertisement for L&C, a sneak preview of the service. Last night, Dee passed out photocopies containing the snippets, and Rick led us through it a couple of times. The whole thing takes only about a minute to sing; but in that short time, Rick's selections nicely illustrate the variety of the music that will be offered at the L&C service -- with the tranquil "What Sweeter Music" followed by the rollicking "Methinks I See an Heavenly Host", then the gentle Scottish lullaby "Baloo Lammy", and finally the familiar, triumphant closing bars of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing".

(I noticed when I looked up the definition of snippet printed above that there was a second meaning: a small or insignificant person. As I have tried to make clear in this blog, no one in our choir is thought to be insignificant. The only snippets you will find in the choir loft are those photocopied music excerpts.)